Our plan is to have a fully developed basement with wine cellar, but we're not sure when we can complete this. We can keep wine stored in a cool place until then but regardless if wine cellar is done immediately or down the road we would like to a the wine fridge in kitchen for immediate and short term consumption. We drink more red than white but with a wine fridge can start to enjoy whites more frequently. After reading above posts I'm not going to do the wine rack as we have so much window light and a sky light that would affect the reds stored in a rack. Here's another related question: we can get a 15" Subzero wine fridge (unclaimed order that salesperson wants to blow out of his store) for the same price as a 24" Marvel. Although SZ is superior and the price is incredibly low , I"m leaning towards the 24". Thoughts? Anyone have a Marvel wine fridge? Thanks to all for their responses on this!

Thanks for all of the nice encouragement. There are several areas of the kitchen which I feel pretty strongly about, and then there are the ones I am uneasy about. I think the Marcolo / rhome concern of too many steps for something as simple as a bowl of cereal is certainly worth considering, and I am going to work to tighten up those functions which are common for us. I have one of those little "planning desks" in my current kitchen and at any given time it is piled with papers, bills, kids pemission slips, and mail. If I have somebody coming over, I quickly dump it all into a basket which quickly becomes a black hole! My little room behind the cooktop (Rachel's space) is to allow my mess, keep it close by, but keep it out of the kitchen area. I know this little space will be a favorite, and it is really there only to handle a roofline issue. The home planning area, is where I was thinking the kids could do homework --- they would be close by, but not in the loud main room --- I knew it would be darkish, and would have no windows, but that is a bit by design as the computer will not have a glare and the printer and all of that stuff can be tucked away in here. The butler's pantry will likely house the more formal china, and it is where guests can help themselves to wine, beer, drinks and a food buffet, though I think it will mainly function as a bar during parties, and food will likely be on the island. My thinking is the butler's pantry is a good connector to the dining room, and the great room, kitchen and porch. The corridor is wide enough for some milling around, and there will be a sink in there, but the related clean-up area will really be on the island. I'm OK with that. One of the other things that you've all made me consider, is the steps to do things like get cereal. What if the 2 cabinets flanking the kitchen table have a fridge and freezer drawer, coffee maker, mugs, sugar bowl, glasses and bowls on one side. On the other side, what if they have 2 big drawers (size of fridge drawers) filled with the cereal boxes. Silverware is another issue. Would it make sense to keep the daily silverware over by the table? If so, couldn't I just take the silverware basket out of the dishwasher and take it (or have the kids take it) over to that area to empty. In that case, a daily meal (cereal and coffee, and juice) would all be handled right there at the table. Clean-up would involve setting the dishes through the little pass through (I could make this a door, but I think I like the pass-through) and then loading the dishwasher, etc. Not too bad, it only involves the breakfast and clean-up area. Now, things are more complicated for other meals. Setting the table would mean getting plates, etc. out of the "dish pantry" area. In my little baking area, I think the comments are totally on --- I think I need to put uppers here for baking supplies. That would allow me to put drawers below for things like mixing bowls, pans, mixers, etc. The toaster could also go out here as well. I know I have lots lots more to figure out --- but thanks for all of the help thus far. Marcolo, thanks so much for the design and reclaimed wood, etc. encouragement. I have always loved these things and sometimes people look at me like I'm crazy, but I really love them. Good to know that I'm actually going to be current for a little while at least!

I found you can get by with just pouring the jugs carefully if you're only doing one gallon batches, but really a siphon is best. They call it a "wine racking cane". I got some wine yeast on e-bay, they were selling equipment too like that, so you could get one delivered if you wanted one. Also, the juice is just the frozen kind at the grocery store. Welch's white grape peach is just as good as the Aldi's, it just costs more. For some reason, the white grape mixes seem to make a better finished wine than the regular purple grape juices. The purple ones have a stronger, jelly-like taste that doesn't work as well as a wine. I've heard that the unfrozen kind of juice has preservatives in it and doesn't ferment well. But I didn't try any to find out. So far all I've got finished is the white grape peach, but I think the red raspberry/white grape is almost finished. Maybe one more week. There is a free wine label website that my hubby found www.freelabelmaker.com that has quite a few nice labels on there. I just started a new batch with 1 and 1/2 cups pineapple (fresh) and a can of orange juice concentrate(12 oz) and 2.5 cups of sugar. Someone told me that orange wine is good, and I had the stuff to do it with, so why not?

My kitchen and bath renovations are scheduled to begin tomorrow. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight! I, too, have a small kitchen and I live alone, so I opted for the Bosch 18-inch dishwasher. I preferred the conventional-type dishwasher thinking that I'd have an easier time fitting tall items. Turns out the 18-inch panel-ready is quite a bit more costly than a standard model, about $850. I treated myself and made room for a 12-inch wide undercounter wine fridge. Mine is a Danby, and I think it was $650. I'm pretty sure beverage cans will fit as well as the regular bottles of Champagne, but the larger bottles might be an issue. All the more reason to drink them quickly! Also a splurge was the Liebherr 24-inch wide refrigerator, but it makes sense in my pretty small kitchen. The narrow refrigerator allowed me to get a 21-inch wide full height pantry -- and, yes, it's made out of an upper cabinet with 3 or 4 rollout shelves and a lower cabinet with a narrow drawer and two deep drawers. I do plan to be here for the long run and since this isn't really a family-size apartment, I'm not too concerned about resale value. I just wanted what suits me! Good luck!